Siderite (spherical) with Calcite

Item Description

An odd specimen from the Nikolaevskiy Mine in Dalnegorsk, Russia featuring a pair of unusually spherical Siderite "balls" of a sandy-golden color. When viewed up close, it appears that the Siderite "balls" are at least partially hollow inside, perhaps they formed as pseudomorphs or "casts" after a preexisting mineral, but it's hard to say for certain. The Siderites are adorned by small stacked groups and individual crystals of tabular compressed Calcite rhombohedra of a soft silvery-grey hue. The piece is nearly complete on all sides, making it close to being a "floater", but there is one point of contact that I can see on one end. A strange yet alluring specimen that is certainly unlike most things we've seen from this mine. Valued at $1,200-$1,500. From the collection of Kurt Hefendehl (#704 RU), a well-known German collector all over Europe with worldwide contacts to dealers and collectors. He started collecting seriously at the age of 14 and his great and varied worldwide collection reached over 6000 pieces. He was very active mineralogically until shortly before his passing in 2020 at the age of 82. Considering his collection had a large number of pieces, it still had an unusually high standard of quality from most worldwide localities. He particularly specialized in all classics as well as minerals of the Black Forest, where he spent much time collecting. His Black Forest and German subcollections went to his good friend Wolfgang Wendel. We at The Arkenstone have the privilege of offering the remainder of this great worldwide collection over the next two to three years through our various platforms.